What can be said about Laura Trott that hasn’t already been said? Whenever she steps onto the track there’s a buzz, and she’s been described as the beating heart of the Great Britaåin track squad.

Trott is one of the most charismatic riders to watch, never more so than in the omnium elimination race, where she sometimes seems to toy with the rest of the field, ducking and diving and picking riders off one by one.

In the team pursuit she is the engine, and her strength and speed has become all the more important since the event stretched to 4,000 metres. She often puts in huge turns at the front to keep the team on top of their opponents.

This year has seen Trott, still only 22 years old, add to her considerable collection of jerseys and medals.

In March she was part of the team pursuit squad that won the World Championships in Cali. That took her tally of rainbow jerseys to five in four years. She was runner-up in the omnium to Sarah Hammer.

Laura Trott, Commonwealth Games 2014 Glasgow, track cycling day four

As brilliant as Trott is on the track, her victory in the National Championships road race was still a bit of a surprise, even taking into account the fact she was runner-up last year. Lizzie Armitstead was the favourite, particularly when she was clear by 15 seconds going into the closing stages, but Trott and her Wiggle-Honda team-mate Dani King closed the gap, and Trott sprinted to a victory she described as every bit as satisfying as a World Championship win.

The Commonwealth Games individual pursuit title escaped her grasp — after falling ill the night before with a high temperature she could only finish sixth in qualifying.
Trott then admitted she had been diagnosed with a kidney infection.

However, she recovered to make amends two days later, to win the points race. Trott beat her team pursuit team-mate Elinor Barker (riding for Wales) by the narrowest margin, and was granted the victory on countback.

As the season went on, Trott continued to add to her list of honours. She won another two national titles in the team pursuit and scratch race, taking her total of senior national titles to seven, and followed that with victory in the European Championships team pursuit
and omnium.

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